Business Chamber, Unions See Double-Digit Wage Rise This Year

MTI-Hungary Today 2019.01.14.

Private sector wages in Hungary could rise in the double-digits this year, well over the 8 percent increase in the minimum wage, the head of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in Saturday’s issue of daily Magyar Idők.

The labour shortage is continuing to impact wage growth, László Parragh told the paper. While the 8 percent minimum wage increase may be the benchmark for pay rises at SMEs, bigger companies can put more into their payroll, he added.

Employers and unions reached an eleventh-hour agreement in December on the scale of the increase for this year’s minimum wage for skilled and unskilled labourers. Both wages will rise by 8 percent in 2019 and again in 2020.